U.K. legends New Order will always have a special place in my musical collection, with appearances on past Romantic Songs for Valentine's Day (2014 and 2016) and the soundtrack of dancing in NYC clubs back in the 80s, but I'd never seen them live. With a new album last fall, Music Complete, the group planned a six-night American tour to support the new songs and refresh memories of the older ones.
With the majestic Radio City Music Hall filled to the brim, the band began confidently with a new song, "Singularity." While this material doesn't deviate much from the dance music formula from decades ago (chunky bass lines and soaring melodies galore as sung by Bernard Sumner along side half the original band members), it was clearly the older tunes that the crowd was waiting for to dance and sing along. "Temptation," "Ceremony," "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Age of Consent" were all rolled out, along with "You Silent Face," the composition that Moby has remarked how it proved electronic music could be beautiful in its own right. (For a refresher, listen to my New Order Faves playlist on Spotify.) The busy projections behind the musicians competed with the audience attention, but acoustically there could be no complaints -- the sound was perfectly supplemented by plenty of prerecorded tracks.
The encore was shortened from two songs to only one with a strict curfew at the venue (surely someone could have done the math?) Without time for the mega-hit "Blue Monday," the Joy Division song "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was still a fitting tribute to the genesis of the music -- starting over after the suicide of vocalist Ian Curtis -- as the words JOY DIVISION FOREVER drew huge cheers. Check out the video for the song on YouTube or here, still echoing in my heart. And my PopMatters pal Sachyn Mital took some awesome photos of the night, link here.
It's that time again... I've noticed that people have been searching for a Romantic Songs Playlist by clicking on my prior posts from 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 so I better get to this year's line up. As always, it's a mix of old and new songs that deal with the many facets of being in love. I can't help but indulge in some tunes from the 80s, when I was young and in love and NYC served as our playground for late nights with a soundtrack heavy on the synths. Other picks are newer creations of all genres and many moods across the musical spectrum. Link to listen on Spotify here, enjoy!
1. "Space Age Love Song" - A Flock of Seagulls 2. "Temptation" - New Order 3. "Snowden" - Doves 4. "When U Love Somebody" - Fruit Bats 5. "Always Love" - Nada Surf 6. "So Now You Know" - The Horrors 7. "About Today" - The National 8. "Finish What I Started" - Will Butler 9. "If You Leave" - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 10. "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" - Soft Cell 11. "It's My Life" - Talk Talk 12. "We've Been Had" - The Walkmen 13. "Lips Like Sugar" - Echo And The Bunnymen 14. "Don't Lose Your Love" - Ivan & Alyosha 15. "I Don't Want to Change You" - Damien Rice 16. "Going To A Town" - Rufus Wainwright
Birthday dinner with oyster shooters & our BYO OLD BAY
Like my post last year, I started a list of songs heard during my birthday that seemed chosen especially for me. So here's another playlist of music that appeared throughout the day as I tuned into fave radio stations KEXP, KCRW and WFUV's The Alternate Side online or otherwise in the kitchen, at my desk or in the car. I also enjoyed John In the Morning's pick of "Spiritual High Part III" by Moodswings, sampling the famous words of Martin Luther King with whom I share my birthday. (I'll post it below, always inspirational but especially appropriate as we head into the long MLK holiday weekend.) There was also a live session with Panda Bear on KCRW -- listen to it in the archives here -- that I enjoyed midday as if I was in the room. And on my way home from a yoga class later I heard that Field Report song, "Home (Leave the Lights On)" that I wrote about during an emotional time last fall. During this listen however I turned the corner and saw my own cozy house lit up in welcome, simply because I had thought to turn on the lights before I left. It was a nod to being another year older and a nice reminder to take care of myself.
Take a listen on Spotify here or at the widget on the home screen.
1. "Dreams Never End" - New Order 2. "Follow" - Mr. Gnome 3. "All My Friends" - LCD Soundsystem 4. "Where It's At" - Beck 5. "First Song" - Band of Horses 6. "Jumping Jack Flash" - Rolling Stones 7. "Home (Leave a Light On)" - Field Report
Here's another romantic songs playlist in honor of Valentine's Day 2014 -- the holiday perfectly placed in the dead of winter to remind us of the finer things in life. (It's always a good excuse for a nice dinner out at least!) Digging through my archives, I found passionately poignant songs that hadn't made it on my romantic songs playlists in 2013 or 2012, plus ones that have only appeared in the past year.
Things kick off with the music of two married couples that I've reviewed and interviewed, Mates of State's "Palomino" and The Submarines' "The Sun Shines At Night." Their bands have been among my faves for years, and wish them well as always professionally and personally. (At least in my marriage there's only one musician and one crazy music fan?) From there it's another patchwork of love gone right or even wrong, hearts pumping either way. Link to listen here, enjoy!
1. "Palomino" -- Mates of State 2. "The Sun Shines At Night" -- The Submarines 3. "Everday Feels Like Sunday" -- Of Montreal 4. "Your Silent Face" -- New Order 5. "On Melancholy Hill" -- Gorillaz 6. "Ya Hey" -- Vampire Weekend 7. "Bloodbuzz Ohio" -- The National 8. "HEART" -- Oberhofer 9. "Say That" -- Toro Y Moi 10. "I Got You Babe" -- UB40 Featuring Chrissie Hynde 11. " I Melt With You" -- Modern English 12. "Song For Zula" -- Phosphorescent 13. "Lost Cause" -- Beck 14. "Home" -- Brian Eno & David Byrne 15. "Is That Enough" -- Yo La Tengo 16. "Sing" -- Travis 17. "Same Mistake" -- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 18. "My Body Is a Cage" -- Arcade Fire 19. "Almost Home" -- Moby Featuring Damien Jurado 20. "So Long You Pretty Thing" -- Spiritualized
The list of bands in the last post may have been mostly made up of current faves, but I did pad it with some extras outside my personal playlist. For those looking to dig into the past, I offer three decades of bands with full catalogues worth a listen below. I actually created this list for a friend's son, who wasn't exactly exposed to any of this rich history in what was new music in the 80s, 90s and 2000s. After mentioning The Beatles and David Bowie as a foundation, I offered the following bands to provide some basic knowledge of exalted past bands (at least to my ears!) Hopefully, it provided some inspiration as well. I've included some videos for the bands I'd most like to resurrect from each decade, thankful for the musicians still active on the scene. It seems fitting to start with the iconic 80s band Talking Heads, probably my most beloved band ever. Their show in Forest Hills during the 1983 tour, captured so brilliantly by Jonathan Demme in Stop Making Sense, will most likely remain as my top concert experience for all time. I was also able to walk over to the Ritz (now Webster Hall) to see the band introduce the film at the premiere and dance along to the music for a second time. Through the years I've run into David Byrne and seen almost every solo tour, as he continued on a personal music journey after eight albums with the group. "Life During Wartime" perfectly captures the mood of the day with references to Mudd Club and CBGB, along with the layered dance rhythms and a frazzled state of emotional confusion as conveyed by Byrne's song-speak. As he asks at the end of the video, "Does anyone have any questions?" Yes lots -- and thanks for bringing them up.
80s
Talking Heads
Pretenders
Roxy Music/Brian Ferry
Blondie
The Clash
The Replacements
The Police The Smiths The Jam Gang of Four Psychedelic Furs The Cure
New Order
If there was a band I could bring back from the 90s, it would be Phantom Planet. The group are best known for the theme song for television's O.C., "California," but they have a four albums worth of solid pop rock anthems and cooing sing along tunes. Indie movie regular Jason Schwartzman was a member for the first decade, with songwriting credits for this hit and a similarly memorable "Lonely Day" in the video here. Alex Greenwald's vocals effortlessly bridge that gap between loud and soft, pulling the listener along that mystical musical space between power chords and passionate percussion. 90s
Phantom Planet Weezer Smashing Pumpkins
Everclear Nirvana
Radiohead
CAKE
Blur Beck Breeders Luscious Jackson
Soup Dragons
Stereo MCs
Jesus Jones
Since the sting of losing one of my all time faves LCD Soundsystem is still fresh in the early stages of grief, I'll dig a little deeper here. The Doves are officially "on hiatus" but I'd love to change that status. This English indie rock band has that ever purposeful ingredient of brothers, Jez and Andy Williams, along with frontman Jimi Goodwin and a willingness to add lush string arrangements to make the heart soar. I listened to all four albums countless times -- thankfully in a digital format that didn't wear out. The promotional video here for 2010 best of compilation shows the band creating a fave song "Some Cities," that never ceases to send me into a visceral musical spiral. 2000s+ The Doves
British band Blur is all over the news today. Tonight the foursome will reunite for a performance at the 2012 Brit Awards, this after singer/songwriter Damon Albarn appeared over the weekend with guitarist Graham Coxon at the War Child charity concert. There they debuted a new song, "Under the Westway," a solid, if stripped down, composition. (See fan footage below.) There was also an announcement that Blur will play the Closing Ceremony Celebration Concert for the London Olympics this summer. They will appear August 12 in Hyde Park with two other U.K. acts, ska band The Specials and some semblance of the iconic post-punk group New Order. My daughter was there the last time Blur played together at Hyde Park during her junior year in London in 2009. While I could not be more jealous of this highlight in her life, I'm also filled with motherly concern over how she had to be led to safety by security when things got too tight near the front of the crowd. Blur was just not on my radar during their dominance in the British pop scene in the 90s -- Oasis had won the popularity contest on this side of the pond. I came late to the party when Paul brought home the Best of Blur, a two disc compilation of recorded tracks on one plus emotional and energy-filled live performances on the other. I played those CDs so much I broke the case, but still have it around as a testament to my fandom. When a disjointed Blur line up spliced together Think Tank in 2003, I went to a now-deceased record store on the day it came out, eager to have anything remotely similar to the band I loved so much. I did try to embrace Albarn's side project a few years later, The Good, The Bad, The Queen and went to their show at Webster Hall where he hid under a hat. The 2007 single, "Herculean," is the only song I can even vaguely remember. Finding my top five Blur songs was easy as they exist in various permanent playlists I've amassed over the years. For a quick perusal, here they are below along with where they are found in my collection. I'm already beginning to wonder how #1 or #2 did not make it on my Valentine's Playlist here -- next year!?!?! And yes, I have a Tearjerkers playlist... NMMATTERS TOP FIVE BLUR SONGS (in no particular order): 1. "No Distance Left to Run," Romantic Songs 2. "To the End," Romantic Songs 3. "Girls & Boys," Singalongs 4. "Song 2," Rock Stew 5. "The Universal," Tearjerkers
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